Imperium
by NovocaineHeart
Summary: As the golden age of Cybertron becomes oppressive, a young mech's journey to grow up, survive and save his planet as the new Prime begins... It all has to start somewhere. (Pre-TFP, Pre-War, NOT OC!)


**Transformers Prime Fanfiction:**

 _ **Imperium – Where it all began**_

 **Chapter 1 - Prolouge**

* * *

" _Some believe their fates are chosen by them, some chose their own fates… but I see fate as being iridescent, ever-changing. But if you look at fate at a different perspective, like an iridescent object, it will change._

 _My story would be, as the humans say, stereotypical. A nobody becomes a somebody, creating friends that will be their pillars of strength, finding love, challenging the powers that be for a fair world, losing friends to evil, losing hope to that same evil, and then rising again. But my story may not be as stereotypical as you think, as I've said before, there's more to us, than meets the eye…_

 _Someone else changed my fate…_ "

* * *

 _Beep, beep, beep._

"…"

 _Beep, beep, beep._

"Arrrrrrrrrrrrrr…"

 _Beep, beep, beep._

"No…"

 _Beep, beep, beep._

"Really…"

 _Beep, beep, beep._

"Still no…"

 _Beep, beep… beep._

"OH, FOR FRAG SAKE!"

 _SMASH!_

The communicator didn't survive well against the mighty wrath of Ratchet, nothing ever did, except the old berth side table, and it had seen its fair share of mistreated communicators. Why was that femme trying to communicate with him at this time of night?

"That's coming out of your pay Ratchet. Not that you get much." Said the voice of said femme echoing in his helm.

Ratchet just moaned, rubbing his tired optics, wondering how he earned the sad life of a medic, oh right, the caste system. From rubbing his optics, his servo found its way to his audio receptor, pressing it lightly. Normally, he would use the berth-side communicator, just not this particular communicator or its predecessors. He figured they were in a better place now, maybe he did them a favour?

"Core, I'm off duty until morning, contact me later or find someone else!" He managed to grind out.

"It _is_ morning."

"First light is when I will get up today"

"Well, junior medic Ratchet, your rostered duty officially starts at midnight, which was a _breem_ ago, roster change remember? So here's your wakeup call… wake up."

Ratchet released the bit of Cybertronian air his intakes were holding, how did he even forget the roster change? "What sorry patients will I see today?"

"You only have one scheduled appointment so far. It's Alpha Magnus and his Sparkmate Oracle, their sparkling is scheduled for a check-up."

"Uh ha, I believe I should get up then."

"Move you're aft." Her transmission ended with a fizzle.

"Ha, and they say I'm the one with non-existent manners."

* * *

Ratchet meandered his way down the white metal halls and to the elevator, heading towards the rec room with energon stations intending to refuel. The recent schedule change meant he would be on duty from midnight till mid-afternoon until the schedule was changed again, _fantastic_.

Passing down a hall, he spared a glance out one of the large windows looking over Iacon city, a marvel on Cybertron, the largest city of all cities and city states founded directly on the north pole of Cybertron. Ratchet had always been here, sure he'd been to the other cities and states, but he started his medic apprenticeship here, no place like home, he mused. Created straight from The Well meant he was thrusted straight into the caste system without looking at other possible career options, his fate chosen for him. After the testing it became plainly clear that he would become a medic… and the grumpiest of them all.

Ratchet made his way to the large recreation room in the medical and scientific institute located on the floor below the resident medic's apartments. He never really took notice of the other medics around him, not to say he didn't like them, he'd never met one worthy of calling a 'friend', except for his new assistant and the mech he trained under to become a medic. Said mech would be here soon as they were on the same schedule.

After collecting his energon ration and sitting at his usual table (which was devoid of anyone else as they knew better than to sit there), he cast a quick look around the room. It wasn't packed, but there were a few medics, apprentices and assistants around either reading, watching the holonews on varies screens, talking, or recovering from the wild party held the previous day and night. How they got away with it he didn't know, or care. He imagined there were quite a few sore helms around.

"Don't know what you're looking at, nothing interesting around here."

Ratchet looked up as his former mentor loomed next to him before sitting, and then noticed the second smaller cube of medical grade energon in his other servo.

"Sore helm Tranfix? That party must have been wild if I could hear it from the top level." Ratchet said as he watched Tranfix take a sip of the medical grade energon before making a face at the horrible taste.

"Sort of. Someone hired some dancers, those femmes where pretty funny when they overdid it, I think a few mechs got lucky. Primus, I wish they'd make this slag taste better…" Tranfix trailed off as he finished the rest of his medical energon, giving an involuntary shake.

"It's meant for _patients_ , not _medics._ "

"You sound like a Magnus."

"Core?"

"Yeah, she told me you'd be doing the check up on his sparkling, Primus be with you..."

Ratchet just humphed.

"How long until you scare this new assistant off? A first vorn junior medic who's already been though nine assistants. She's young, pretty, seems like your type."

"Then why don't you court her?"

"I'm too old for her."

"When has that stopped you?" Ratchet said quietly while taking the last sip of energon from his cube, not intending for his former mentor to have heard him, but hear him he did. Ratchet looked back at his glaring mentor with an equal glare of his own, putting them into an awkward silence. But the silence ended when Tranfix's comm went off.

After hearing what his panicking assistant had said, he leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms behind his helm as a loud _whoosh_ escaped from his intakes, the Cybertronian equivalent of a yawn.

"Well?" Ratchet questioned.

"Hu? Oh, one of my patients is flat lining."

Ratchet just stared at him.

"Got into a street fight, his fault really, should probably go check on him."

"You think!?"

Ratchet watched as his former mentor walked towards the door. How the mech was never too bothered when he was unable to save a life, he would _never_ know, _sadist_. But now that the debacle was over, actually, Ratchet thought, probably _lost_ , it was time to treat his own patients.

Using the elevator and travelling down to the lower levels of the large medical part of the building, he wasn't surprised to see his new assistant standing and waiting for him as the doors opened, her light green optics looking into his. She was the average height for a small femme, young with angular armour covered in a mix of strange blues and greens, and after his talk with Tranfix, Ratchet realized she was quite pretty, in her own way. He didn't know much about her, apart from her being Praxian and her recent move from Praxus looking for a 'better life', as she had said.

"You're not late." She said with a slight Praxian accent as she checked her chronometer.

"Why in the name of Primus did they want an appointment this early in the morning?" Ratchet asked as he looked at the data pad Core had handed him, skimming quickly over the important stuff.

"Apparently-" Core started "-they are traveling to Crystal city for something and want the latest vaccination for their son for protection against any viruses, they've had theirs. And as a bonus, it's only Oracle coming. They had to do it early because they will be leaving soon."

"Thank Primus. Wait, why are they coming here for it? Don't they have a private medical officer?"

"She said she didn't want see him, she wanted to see a normal medic" Core shrugged.

"If where normal, than what's their medic?" Ratchet said as he and Core walked to their destination.

* * *

He was glad the city streets were so quiet this time in the morning, he could only imagine the reactions of other bots if they saw someone like him walking the backstreets of Iacon. But sometimes he needed somewhere to walk that wasn't the many halls and aisles of the Hall Of Records. He needed to stretch his old limbs less the rust set in.

 _Thump_

The mech turned around instantly and quickly for his age, but there was nothing and no one else in the ally.

 _Thump_

He looked around until his optics set on the pile of scrap metal lying against the side of another building. He started to make his way closer to the pile, then knelt down to it.

 _Thump, thump_

Something was hitting the metal, trying to get attention. He went to move it, then hesitated as it may be a Scraplet trap, but thought better of it. As he lifted a piece of scrap metal away, he was shocked to see the set of large, light blue optics staring innocently into his own, into his very _spark_ …

* * *

The check-up went as expected. Compared to Alpha Magnus, Oracle was his complete opposite, and their son was a Magnus for sure (just look at those shoulders). But Ratchet could only put it down to how a Magnus was raised. No matter whether mech or femme, a Magnus was trained in the Elite Guard and granted a high rank. It was strange that the caste system never affected them, perhaps they were too respected (or feared) that the caste system operators didn't want to interfere with them. The caste system was growing more oppressive by the vorns, Ratchet mused, you only had to look at his sad medic life to see that.

Oracle told him that this was the first time their son, _Ultra_ Magnus, would be leaving the city, she just wanted to keep him safe as any creator's would.

"Is it just me, or do the names of future Magnus' get more ridicules each time one is sparked?" Ratchet said out loud to himself more than to his assistant who was on the other side of the med bay room restocking some supplies in a cabinet. He made his way around the large padded med berth in the middle of the room to where she was, taking stock of what she was putting in there and what was on the file for Ultra Magnus on the data pad in his servo.

"Who knows." She said as she finished stocking the cabinet. "Is that everything junior medic Ratchet?"

"Would you _stop_ calling me that? I know you're doing it on purpose."

"How long did it take you to figure that out?"

"Get out."

"Gladly."

Core left the bay without complaint, going to the reception to find any patients who needed medical assistance. Ratchet returned to his office and sat at his desk, slid open a secret compartment and pulled out a small vile of high grade. It was something he expected older medics to do, he knew Tranfix did. But if Tranfix found out he was doing it, he would get his own young aft handed to him on the end of a wrench. Ratchet pulled the cap off and put it up to his lip plates, one klick until liquid relief…

"Ratchet!"

Ratchet immediately fell off his seat onto the floor and somehow managed to not spill a single drop of high grade in the process. His helm was throbbing (and he hadn't even had anything to drink!) from the yell of Core's voice in his audio receptor. As quickly as he could while putting the cap back on the bottle and stashing it again, he put a digit up to his ringing receptor. It was almost as if she just came into the room and yelled it was that loud.

"Core, what the Frag wa-!"

"Get to the bay we were in now!"

Without a klick more Ratchet was racing down the halls to the bay. He even passed Tranfix on the way who yelled at him for almost hitting a femme medic. When he reached the med bay all kinds of scenarios were running through his mind as to what had happened, missing limbs, fractured helms, severed vital energon lines. What he didn't expect was to see Core with an orange femme who was holding a small, weak sparkling…

* * *

 _ **AU:**_

 **Hello!**

 **So, this is going to be a REALLY big project for me and who knows how long this will take to complete, considering this fanfiction will be spread out over three major fanfictions and will have so many chapters and arcs. And Also I will have to find time to continue working on it and other fanfics, at least I have the context down. So...**

 **This is set in the Transformers Prime universe, starting before TFP, following through the whole series and beyond the movie. The entire story will consist of three major parts, being:**

 **Imperium - Where it All Began (set bef** **ore TFP)**

 **Imperium - War on Earth (set during TFP)**

 **Imperium - The Final Battle (set after TFP Predacons Rising)**

 **How long it will take me to complete I have no idea. But here is chapter 1 - prologue :)**

 **Please read and enjoy, rate and review, and stay tuned for an epic story of creation, love, and sacrifice.**

 _ **NovocaineHeart,**_


End file.
